Draft appliance for railway-cars.



, PATENTED FEB. 20, 1906.

J. P. OUONNOR. DRAFT APPLIANGE EUR RAILWAY GARS.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T. Z8, 1905.

` SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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PATENTED FEB. -zo, 1906.

y J. P. ocoNNoR. DRAFT APPLIANGE E08 RAILWAY'GARS.

4 APPLICATION FILED 00T. 28E 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Witwen PATBNTEB H1B. 20, 1906.

y J. P. ocoNNoR. DRAFT APPLIANGE FOR RAILWAY GARS;

APPLICATION E'ILED 0012.248, 1905.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JOHN F. OCONNOR, CHICAGO, ILLI-NOS, ASSIGNOR TO WJ H. MINER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ',ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF LLINOIS.

.DRAF'TARPLIANo-E Fon nA|Lw`AY'-cAr-zs.

. No! 812,868; L

siieiaeation of Letters. patent.

Patented Feb. 20, i906.

l To all' whom-it may concern: v

Be it known that l, JOHN F.1OCO`NNOR, a citizen of'the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and `State of 'Illinois, have invented a new and `:useful Improvement in Draft Appliances for Railway- Cars, of which the following is a specification.

y invention relates-to 4draft and.- coupling gear for railway-cars.

' In the railway draft `and coupling gear or appliances heretofore inl use in railw'ayecars it is racticallyimpossible to couple cars toget er on a curved or sharply-curved track.

. even if the knuckles of both couplers are open and still more difficult when one of the knuckles is closed, and this frequently causes greatannoyance and inconvenience.

The obj ect of my invention is toi rovide a simple, eficient, strong, and` dura le draft and coupling gear for railway-'cars'by means of which this difficulty may be overcome and the cars readily coupled together'ona curved track',hwevershort the radius,fand whereby also the movement of the carsmay be steadied when the `train is' passingr around .short vcurves andthe security andstabi'lity of the train as a whole vmaterially increased.

My invention consists' 1n the means l employl to practically accomplish this object or vresult--that is to say, it., consista/in connection with the car-frameworkyo'f a supplemental draft and coupler gear frame fpi'votally connected to' the car-'frame and upon which pivoted supplemental ltrame the car-coupler and draft-nggi'ng proper are mounted and cooperating socketfand lunger devices onthe supplemental framegiiiy means of which the supplemental draft-,gear vand" coupler carrying frames of two contiguous cars are turned into parallelism or alinement/wth` each other as the couplersl of the two cars come together,

- thus causing the couplers to readily couple or interengage the same as if the vcars-to be coupled were upon a 'straightftrack instead of L rivets d?.

upon afcurved track.

f iMy vention also consists in vthe novel construction of parts anddevicesand in the 'novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and describedy In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this s ecication,.Figure '1 a yplan view of a dra t and coupler gearembodying my' invention, showing the contiguous ends l of two cars couple'dtogether; `Fig. Zisae'en- 'are tral vertical longitudinal section on line 2 of Fig. l. Fig-3 is a detail side elevation. Fig.

/ 4` is a vertical cross-section on the broken line sills, A A ythe intermediate sills, and A2 the front or end sills of the car-frameworks of vtwo contiguous cars, and A3 the curved front plate thereof.v B B are the couplers', each having thelcustomary hinged knuckleB, the draw-bar-B2,'and draw-bar strap or yoke B3. C C- represent the side plates or stop- .castings of the draft-rigging, C Cthe cushioning devices of the draft-rigging, the same being preferably tandemrarranged springs, and C2 CZ the followers. be offany ordinary or suitable construction All these-parts may and' requireno detailed description, as the same are familiar to those skilled in the art.

-D is the supplemental pivotal or swin ing draft-gear and coupler frame, upon w 'ch thel draft rigging and coupler proper are mounted and by which thesame are carried and which is pivotally connected or hinged at its rear end to the main frame of the can-sothat the supplemental frame may swing from side to sideas the cars passaround a curve. "The supplemental draft'- lgearand v coupler carryin frame D is preferably of'triangular or A- aped form and preferably comprises a pivot or hinge block (12 and a .pair of parallel longitudinal bars da d3, to which the side plates or stop-castings C2 of the draft-.riggin directly. secured, all these bars d d da an block d being irmly and rigidly riveted and secured bysuitable connectin -plates'd4.\and' The pivot vor vhinge' lock d2 of the supplemental swinging frame' D is pivotally connected to the main frame of the car by a connecting block or member F, which is firmly secured by rivets f to the center sills A of the car-'frame and which is provided with a depending -arm f and pivot-lugfz, which fits between the upper. and lower-webs d d7 of the-pivot-block d2of the supplemental frame and to which webs vsaid lug f 2 is pivotfront bard, two angle-barsdf, a

ros

ally connected by a pivot-pinff, secured in place by a cotterjx supplemental swinging frame D is 'preferably about seven feet in length or some two feet shorter than the en d sill orthe whole width of the car, and it is provided on one side with a socket G and on the opposite side with a. plunger G', which engage the cooperating socket and plunger on the swinging frame of 1o the adjacent car. The end of each 'of the plungers is pointed and rounded, preferably about as indicated in the drawings, and thus adapted to enter the'mouth of the socket, which is correspondingly shaped, when the i 5 cars approach each other on a curve, as illustrated, for example, in Fig. 7, the cooperating and interengaging socket and 'plungers on the supplemental swinging frames of they two adjacent cars thus causing such supplemental zo framesl as the cars approach each other to turn into alinement lor parallelism with each other, as indicated in Fig. 8, thus bringing the draw-bars and couplers and draft-rigging of the two adjacent cars into an approxi- 2 5 mately straight line ywith each other, the same as if the cars to be coupled were on a straight track instead of ony a curved track. The wide mouth of the socket G and broad rounded point of the plunger G adapts the 3o same to interengage each other however sharp may be the curve ofthe track or the angle at which the adjacent'cars stand to each other, as will be readily understoodfrom Fig.' 7, and the further approachingl ymovement of the cars by the leverage of the interengaging socket and plunger of the two hinged frames D D of the two approaching cars thus causes the hinged frames D D to be turned. on their pivots until their front bars 4o d al are parallel witheach other', and the two drawbars carried by these hinged frames D D are brought into approximate alineinent with each other, so that the couplers will properly engage whether one or both of the knuckles are open.

To properly support the front end or portion ofv the supplemental coupler and drawbar carrying frame D D, 'the main frame A is provided with a curved track Il, near the 5o iront -end thereof, and the supplemental frame D with one or morepreferably two-A hangers I-I, having wheels or rollers i, which travel upon the curved track H. As in my invention all necessary .lateral or swinging movement of thedraw-bar and coupler 1s provided for by the supplemental swinging frame D, upon which thesame is mounted, it is unnecessary that anylprovision be made for giving the draw-bar and coupler a lateral 6o or swinging movement in respect to the side plates or stop-castings C of the draft-rigging, and I therefore prefer that the'inner edges of the side plates or stop-castingsl should be straight and fit reasonably closely the drawbar strap. To center or maintain the sup- The front bar d 'of the plemental coupler and draw bar carrying swinging frame D in its normal position, I provide the same with a centering device K, rigidly secured to said supplemental frame by rivetsk and having shoulders k engaged 7o by followers k2 of the centering-spring 7c3, the

'spring and followers being supported in a suitable casing K', secured to the center sills A of the car and furnished with stops 7a4 forl the followers to abut against. 7 5 While my invention is specially intended and adapted for use upon passengervcars, it may, however, nevertheless be used upon other cars, if desired. I 'I claim- I. y y

1-. In a railway-car coupling. and draft appliance, the combination with the-main frame of the car, of a supplemental swinging' frame pivotally connected at its rear end to said main frame, a coupler and draft-rigging mechanism mounted upon and carried by said supplemental swinging` frame and a socket and-plunger at the opposite sides of the swinging frame adapted to eiigagethe cooperatingv plunger and socket of the swinging `9o frame of the adjacent ear to turn the two swinging frames into parallelism vand the couplers and draw-bars into alinement witli each other as the cars approach, substantially as specified. 95

2. In a railway-car coupling and draft appliance, the combination with the main fra me of' the car, of a supplemental swingihg frame `pivo'tally connected at its rear end to said main frame, a coupler and draft-rigging mechanism mounted upon and carried by said supplemental swinginglfra me, a eur-ved track and Alrar'igers for supporting the filent end of said supplemental swinging frame, and a socket and plunger atthe.opposite sides of the swinging frame adapted to engage the eoloperating plunger and socket of the swinging frame of the adjacente-ar to turn the two swinging frames iiit-o parallelism and the couplers and draw-bars into aliuemeiit with each other as the cars approach, substantially as specified.

3. In a. railwayecar coupling and draft appliance, the combination with the main frame of the car, of a supplemental swinging frame pivotally connected at its rear end to said main frame, a coupler and draft-rigging mechanism mounted lupon, and carried by said supplement-al swinging frame, means for centering said supplemental swinging frame with the main frame, and asoeliet and plun ger Iat the opposite sides of the swinging frame adapted to engage the cooperating plunger and socket-of the swinging frame of the adjacenty car to turn? the two swinging framesvinto parallelism and the couplers and draw-bars into alinement with each other as the cars approach, substantially as specilied.

4. In a railway-car coupling and draft appliance, the combination with the main frame 1 3o IIO IIS

ICO.

of the car,

of la supplemental swinging frame pivotally connected at its rear end to said main `Jframe, a coupler draft-rigging mechanism mounted upon and carried by said supplemental swinging Jframe7 a curved track and hangers for supporting the front end of said supplemental swinging frame, and means for centering said supplemental swingin frame with the main frame, and a socket and fplunger at the opposite sides of the swinging ame adapted to engage the cooperating plunger and socket of the swinging frame of the adjacent car to turn the ltwo swinging frames into parallelism and the c ouplers and draw-bars into alinement lwith each other as the cars approach, substantially as specified.

5. The combination with a car-frame, of a v supplemental draw bar and draft rigging carrying Jframe pivotally connected to the mainframe, and a coupler draw-bar and cushioning device mounted upon and carried by said supplemental frame, said supplemental frame having socket and plunger devices adapted to engage similar devices on the adjacent car to turn said supplemental frameon its pivot so as to bring the draw-bar carried thereby into alinement with the draw-bar of the adjacent car, substantially as specified.

6. The combination. with a car-frame, of a supplemental draw bar and draft rigging carrying frame pivotally connected to the main frame, and a coupler draw-bar and cushioning device mounted upon and carried by said supplemental frame, and means for centering said supplemental frame with the carframe, said supplemental frame having socket and plunger devices adapted to engage similar devices on the adjacent car to turn said supplemental frame on its pivot so as to bring the draw-barcarried thereby into alinement 4o with the draw-bar of the adjacent car, substantially as specified.

7. The combination with the car-frame, of a supplemental triangular frame pivotally connected to the main frame and provided with parallel bars, side plates or stop-castings secured to said parallel bars, followers, a cushioning device and a draw-barmounted upon and carried by said supplemental frame, substantially. as specified. 5o

8. The combination with the car-frame, of a supplemental triangular frame pivotally connected to the main frame and provided with parallel bars, side plates or stop-castings secured to said parallel bars, followers, a cushioning device, a draw-bar mounted upon and carried by said supplemental frame, and a centering device for said supplemental frame, substantially as specied.- Y

l The combination with the car-frame, of a supplemental triangular frame pivotally l connected to the main frame and provided with parallel bars, side plates or stop-castings secured to said parallel bars, followers, a cushioning device, a draw-bar mounted upon and carried by said supplemental frame, a centering device Jfor said supplemental frame, and means for turning said supplemental frame orA its pivot to bring the draw-bar carried thereby into alinement with the draw-bar of tige adjacent car as the cars approach each other for coupling on a curve, substantially arvsspecified. v

I JOHN F. OCONNOR.

Witnesses:

EDMUND ADcocK, H. M. MUNDAY. 

